Butte College
News Announcement

Promise Program: A Big Success

In Fall 2018 Butte College launched the Butte College Promise Scholarship Program (BCPSP), which provides up to one year of free tuition and fees for all first-time, full-time college students. The immediate objectives of this program were to reduce the cost of college for students and to get students started on the path to earning a degree or certificate completion by incentivizing full-time enrollment for the first year.  Funding for this program is from the state through Assembly Bill 19 and private donations.

Initial data from Fall 2018 suggests that the BCPSP has been remarkably successful.  Compared to Fall 2017, there has been a 15 percent increase in first-time students, a 36 percent increase in the number of first-time students attending full-time, and a 57 percent increase in the number of students submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  Almost 2,000 students are in the college’s first-time student cohort.  BCPSP has significantly increased the size of this group and incentivized full-time enrollment – which will increase the likelihood that these students will complete.  As part of this program students are accountable for maintaining at least a 2.0 GPA to be funded for the next semester.

The college’s long-term objective for the BCPSP is to improve the quality of the local workforce by increasing the number of students earning a degree, a vocational certificate, or transferring to a university.  To meet this long-term objective, the college needs to provide a second year of free tuition and fees and to help students cover the cost of books.  The college is already a state leader in moving students from expensive textbooks to free online educational resources.  To this end, through the use of free online educational resources, the college saved students $400,000 in 2017-2018 and is continuing to grow this program. 

Although the BCPSP is already meeting its immediate objectives, additional financial support is needed to ensure that the students that have started attending full-time are able to maintain full-time status to complete their studies.  The combination of AB 19 funding and private donations have been sufficient to cover most of the cost of the initial program.  However, to sustain and expand the existing program, as well as to expand it to cover second year tuition and fees as well as books, additional funding will be needed. 

As described previously, the initial results of this program have been impressive.  According to Dr. Samia Yaqub, Butte College President, “We have seen a large increase in the number of first-time students this fall semester --including a greater number of first-time students attending full-time.  We know that full-time attendance significantly increases the likelihood that a student will earn a degree or certificate, or transfer to a university.  The program helps break down financial obstacles, and helps educate youth as young as kindergarten that college will be available for them.  It’s exciting to see that the Promise program is doing exactly what we intended, we are already imagining how many more lives we will be able to change as a result of this program.”

For Butte College Promise students, Tatiana Soliz, Magalia, and Josiah Topete, Live Oak, the Promise Program has already made a difference in their lives.

Both Soliz and Topete say the Promise Program has helped them attend college.

“Having the Promise Program pay for my tuition and fees helped use that money to buy a laptop and help with transportation costs,” said Soliz, who is majoring in music.

As for Topete, he had opted not to attend college due to the expense.

“I wasn’t even planning on attending college,” said Topete. “I didn’t think I could afford it and just planned to find any type of construction job in Sacramento. I heard about the Promise Program and decided to enroll and I’m glad I did.” 

Today, Topete is a business major and has a goal of transferring to a four year college.

“We’re really excited the Promise Program has exceeded our expectations. It’s touching lives and we’re getting the word out to young students that college is accessible to them,” said Tammera Shinar, Butte College Financial Aid Director.  “Our next goal is to fundraise for the Promise Program so that someday we might be able to offer four semesters to a student with a book voucher too.”

For information about how you can donate to the Butte College Promise Program, contact the Butte College Foundation at 530-895-2359 or visit dcsn.big5vn.com/waystogive.

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